Paper Finance iPhone App Jumps on the Retro Bandwagon

It seems that not a day goes by without somebody telling me that I should be budgeting my finances to make my money go further and to make sure that I know where all my money is going. Well I took that advice many years ago and have used a variety of methods.

From spreadsheets and shareware software to paid of apps and web based options I’ve tried them all, well now Paper Finance is bringing a new alternative option to the table that they claim is both fully featured and easy to use.
If this is the first time you’ve started to manage your finances then the brief tour when you launch the app helps you get started. But in all honesty just as the app suggests everything is kept nice a simple.

If you just want to track a single account then everything is ready to go out of the box so to speak although if required you can add multiple accounts to keep track of.

Of course the simplicity of the application means that you aren’t going to be able import all of your transactions so you’ll have to add them all manually as they occur. This is done via the home screen and you can simple use the new expense or new income button as required. Whichever you chose you can simply add the amount, category, account and date as well as adding optional fields for name and notes.

It’s also possible to add additional categories and accounts direct from the new expense/income page keeping the overall simplicity of the app intact.

Your new additions will automatically be reflected in your balances on the home page so it’s easy to keep track of things. Paper Finance also features recurring transactions. To make a recurring transaction you can tap on the date’s detail disclosure button from the new transaction screen. This takes you to the date details screen where you can set a few recurring options.

Being able to add transactions is one thing but being able to report on them is more important if you are going to keep your finances in order. A swipe to the left will take you to the reports page where you can choose from a range of pre-built reports.

The reports are pretty basic but cover all the main requirements, you can report your expenses or income, or report by category or date. Not only that but you can then view them as a chart which you can export to a PDF file or export the data to CSV.

Both of the exports utilize the email functionality of the iPhone/iPod Touch and just like the reports themselves they are generated quickly even when there is a large amount of data involved.

There are a range of settings so that you can personalize Paper Finance to your own requirements including the ability to add a passcode to the application so that you can keep your data private.

In this day and age where there are applications available where you can automatically import all of your transaction from your online bank accounts Paper Finance feels a little retro.

However, if you want a simple budget app that is a replacement for pen and paper or even a spreadsheet then Paper Finance completes that requirement very nicely.